2.5 Update Notes (LIVE!)

[Liam]

It's update time!

Here's what you can expect to find in the 2.5 update, which is hopefully arriving sometime early next week:

Prize Fight Defense Team Updates
Dread Locks, Armed Forces, Resonant Evil, these were the ingredients chosen to create the perfect diabolical team... which was then avoided by every player ever until the end of time. Bummer!

DEFENSE BONUS MULTIPLIERS
To incentivize players to build the the most powerful defense teams they can, we're adding a reason to challenge scary Defense Teams in our next update. Every time that your team is displayed to another player, and it is not chosen to be fought, your team will begin to accumulate a "Defense Bonus Multiplier". This bonus will grow larger and larger until someone eventually chooses to fight you.

The winner of the fight, be it the defender or the attacker, will have the points they would have normally earned multiplied by the Defense Team's bonus multiplier.

This also encourages players to build appropriate counter variants and move loadouts to maximize their point gains. Continuing to avoid powerful teams will leave the bounty for another player to claim!

WIN STREAK MODIFIERS
In light of these changes and some AI adjustments (noted below), Streak Modifiers have been updated to climb at a slower rate of +10% ATK/HP per fight after Streak 16 (down from 20% previously). Once this bonus reaches 200%, they will climb at the old rate of 20% per win until they cap out at 500%.

Origin Stories - Parasoul
At long last, Parasoul's Origin Story is finally here! Learn about the mysterious past of the Renoirs in this heart warming family tale that touches on trust and friendsh- Hold on... Okay, I'm being told that this is NOT in fact heart warming and... yeah, ok - everything goes to hell as usual. Splendid.

As always, Origin Stories requires Player Level 20 to unlock. These fights are not easy, so make sure your Parasoul variants are up for the challenge!

AI Improvements
We've improved our highest level AI in various ways to make high stakes matches a bit more varied and interesting!

Here are the changes you can expect to see from high level AI found at high streaks in Prize Fights, or high difficulties in Story Mode / Daily Events.

NEW AI DASH OPTIONS
After the AI dashes into your face, they should be less likely to immediately follow up with a knockback attack letting you punish them if the attack was blocked. The AI may also cancel their dashes into a block (or another action), attempting to bait out an unsafe option from the player.

AI OPTIONS VS BLOCKING OPPONENTS
If the AI is attacking into your block, they will be less likely to blindly combo into an obviously punishable attack. They may even attempt to throw you early on! Be sure to stay on your toes!

SMARTER COUNTER ATTACK WINDOWS
This is closer to a bug fix, but the AI shouldn't stop blocking in the middle of a blocked combo sequence when there isn't enough time to punish the player.

CORRECTED BB3 BEHAVIOR
As many of you have noticed, even high level AI is currently VERY unlikely to use a BB3 if the player is blocking - this was because they didn't consider it to be an option!

In this update, higher level AI always consider using their BB3 even if you are blocking, or far away. That said, the AI will never buffer a BB3 on get-up or while being hit - so if you want to keep enemy BB3s at bay, you need to stay aggressive! As a general rule, you can also limit the amount of meter your opponent gets by opting to use fewer hits to inflict damage, or use Outtakes to force an opponent to tag in a teammate.

Many of you may find that variants and moves specifically designed to counter BB usage will be much more useful. Check out this image for a helpful list:

All that said, we know BB3s are contentious and can be tricky to overcome, so rest assured that we'll be keeping a close eye on how this affects the game. We look forward to your feedback on the AI after you've had a chance to play with it!

Profile Screen
Tapping on a player's name in the chat room will bring up the option to view their PROFILE.

You can also view your own Profile by tapping your rep Fighter in the top Nav Bar or your Player Name in the top left of most menus.

DUELING OPPONENTS
You can view another player's Fighters in their collection from their Profile, and you can also DUEL their rep Fighter.

DUELS cost no energy, and give no rewards. If you're looking to practice against a specific variant, you can find someone with that variant as their rep fighter and practice against them for free! All Duels are 1v1's against the highest level of AI.

In our next update, we'll let you change your rep Fighter so that players can ask to challenge a specific Fighter in another player's collection.

Rest assured, we'll continue to add more elements to the Profile screen in future updates as we add additional features!

CHANGING DISPLAY NAME
You asked for it, we listened!

On your own profile screen, the duel button is replaced with a CHANGE DISPLAY NAME button that can be used to change your Display Name for 500 Theonite. Make it count!

Fighter Preview Pop-Up
Tap a Fighter on a player's Profile screen (or when their name pops up in Chat when they are acquired or evolved) and you will will bring up the new FIGHTER PREVIEW pop-up.

This will display a live up-to-date version of that specific Fighter. Here, you can view how the player chose to build their variant's loadout (including move stats, etc), and review their Signature Ability and (if upgraded) their Marquee Ability,

Chat Content Reporting
If someone is causing trouble in the Chat (in Skullgirls? I don't believe it), you can now directly report that player from inside the app by tapping on their name, then pressing the REPORT button.

After this, you'll be able to select one or more rules that they violated before sending the report. We'll review every report personally, and you can expect those who break the rules to be muted from the chat room temporarily or permanently.

If you have not already done so, please familiarize yourself with the chat rules:
http://forum.skullgirlsmobile.com/threads/official-chat-rules-and-abuse-guidelines.2835/

Offer Tuning
We don't normally dive deep into all of the offer related changes that we make with each update, but this time we'll be going over the specifics!

We've received a lot of feedback about our current offers, and we'll be making a lot of changes in this update to make them more juicy and desirable for early and late game players. If you're not into offers, feel free to jump to the next section - no hard feelings.

Here's a quick rundown of some of the important changes we've made:

Weekly Elemental Fighter Bundles

Elemental Relics 7x → 11x Relics
This brings the offer closer in line with a 10+1 pull.​

Daily Elemental Fighter Bundles

Elemental Relic 1x → 2x
Elemental Shards 40x → 10x
Price 9.99 USD → 4.99 USD
Cost efficient way to acquire specific fighters each day should they be desired.​

Silver Fighter Upgrade Bundles

Skill Points 75x → 100x
Enough Skill Points to unlock one Marquee Ability level for a Silver Fighter​

Gold Fighter Upgrade Bundles

Skill Points 200x → 250x
Canopy Coins 300,000 → 350,000
Enough Skill Points to unlock one Marquee Ability level for a Gold Fighter
​

Fighter Evolution Bundles

Character Relics 8x → 12x
Price 19.99 USD → 24.99 USD
This is now roughly equivalent to a 10+1 pull now, as the two extra Relics are the same as the Bonus Relic that offers double odds for Silver or Gold.​

Weekly Egret Recruit Pack

Premiere Relics 3x → 2x
Bronze Keys 0x → 1x
If you're running dry on Bronze keys, consider checking this bundle out!
​

Weekly Egret Elite Pack

Premiere Relics 6x → 10x
Cheap Relics with extra Theonite and Canopy coins to boot!
​

NEW OFFER

Fighter Variety Pack

This will now become available more frequently during standard progression.​

Fighter Variety Pack PLUS

Character Relics - (2x Each, 22 Total)
Price - $29.99 USD
A special bonus offer for those who really want to grow their collection!​

Fight Assist Improvements
We've given Fight Assist two useful quality of life changes!

PERSISTENT STATE ACROSS MATCHES
If you turn on Fight Assist, it will stay on until you exit the app, or turn it off manually. This makes auto-fighting through Daily Events you can easily clear a breeze!

TOGGLE DURING PRE-FIGHT INTRO
You can now turn Fight Assist on during the pre-battle rambling! No more scrambling to tap that button as quick as possible when it's SHOWTIME.

Economy Adjustments

Maximum Player Level

• Maximum player level has been increased to 70.
• At level 65, players will be rewarded with one of each Elemental Relic.
• At level 70, players will be rewarded with one of each Elemental Relic, and one of each Elemental Essence.
• These new player levels will require A LOT of experience - expect to be in it for the long haul if you're looking for these rewards! Note that player experience is still earned even if you are using a team of fully maxed out Fighters.

Elemental Prize Fights - Extra Elemental Relics

• In addition to the Event Rewards, you can now get an Elemental Relic at the 2,300,000 and 6,000,000 point thresholds!

Energy Refresh Tuning

• We've increased the cost of refreshing energy from 5 Theonite to 10 Theonite.
• We want energy refreshing to be a low cost, viable option, but we don't want it to be a trivial investment for players to continually refresh one fighter to sweep through content.
• We always want to encourage everyone to build a larger collection and use a wider variety of characters when possible

Chat - Auto-Correct (iOS only)

• Implemented Auto-Correct. Rejoice, you should be able to type much faster now!

In-Game / Combat Adjustments

Character Tag In

• You can now choose the next character that will tag in after your point character dies by tapping their portrait.

Stages - Bath Of Sekhmet

• Added new music for the bloody version of this stage. Enjoy!

Combat UI

• Improved placement location of modifier icons when there are too many to fit on the screen at once in a single row.
• Character Ability buttons now use an outer rim color that matches the rarity of the character that it belongs to.

Taunt Cancelling Standardization

• Eliza, Big Band, Painwheel, and Valentine can now cancel their taunt into a BB as soon as the buff is applied.
• All other characters can do this, so now everyone can!

Squigly

• Can no longer cancel Normals and Dash Attack into Wyrm's Tail, to prevent infinite combos.
• Increased hitstun on SM - Drag N Bite (Charged) to make combos into L1 easier afterwards.

Cerebella

• Marquee Ability - UPPER HAND no longer grants the meter that is removed from the opponent back to Cerebella, it now only reduces meter. One SM - Pummel Horse with this MA is already enough to fully reduce the opponent's BB3 meter to 0 from full (which is pretty impressive!) and we felt that it didn't also need to fully charge her BB3 meter in addition to that ability.

Double

• L1 now has faster start-up, and covers a longer distance before the attack becomes active.
• BB3 - Megalith Array will now end as soon as the opponent dies - no more multi-Fighter kills!

Eliza

• Sekhmet can no longer stagger a character more than once per combo, like all other staggers in the game (Cerebella's Pummel Horse, Cerebella's CA, Squigly's Silver Chord, Painwheel's Charge Attack...)
• Slightly increased recovery on Charge Attack on whiff, so that it can be punished.
• Increased distance and range covered by Charge Attack.
• Launchers after Charge Attack and Throw no longer fully launch, because all of the follow-up juggle hits missed on many characters.
• The final hit of Eliza's throw now builds meter.
• The AI will now more effectively respond to Sekhmet using her unblockable charge attack when they are knocked down and just about to stand up.

Big Band

• Slightly increased hitstop on the final hit of his ground chain to help him combo into launcher more consistently.

Fighter Specific Adjustments

Peacock - Untouchable

• When Peacock - Untouchable activates UNFLINCHING, it will now only affect hits AFTER the one that triggered her SA (instead of ignoring the hit that activated her SA). This is in line with how Cerebella - Armed Forces functions, and it will give players a chance to react to her SA activating using careful taps and pokes.

Eliza - Diva Intervention

• Now uses the correct dress color on her card art. (White, instead of blue...)

Parasoul - Ivy League

• Signature Ability 2 now inflicts WITHER instead of direct meter drain to make her a more effective Meter management Fighter.

​

Painwheel - Rage Appropriate

• Now gains 2 stacks of ARMOR alongside her HEAVY REGEN to help ensure players can make use of her SA.
• RAGE APPROPRIATE META INCOMING?

​

Filia - Parasite Weave

• Now inflicts SLOW for 10 seconds alongside STUN whenever it is applied. She cannot apply another STUN or SLOW if the opponent is already afflicted by SLOW.
• We wanted to remove Parasite Weave's (frankly broken) ability to relentlessly stun lock opponents, while still ensuring STUN and methods for "locking down" an opponent were a major part of her toolset.

Modifier Adjustments

Daily Events - Parasoul

• Parasoul's Daily Event now has four new modifiers to mirror all of the other characters!
  • Basic - Shell Shock
  • Advanced - Preemptive Strike
  • Expert - Siege Cannon
  • Master - Rolling Thunder

Daily Events - Big Band - Immovable Object

• Found on Master Treasure Nodes, this modifier no longer grants UNFLINCHING to benched characters on round start. You can now use an SM - Outtake to take on a Fighter without UNFLINCHING immediately if there is a benched character available.

Daily Events - Peacock - Mimic

• No longer activates from hits that connect while using a Blockbuster.

Character Details

• Fixed an issue where dust effects spawned from performing moves were larger than intended.

Experience

• Tuned maximum amount of experience you can earn on loss to 200 EXP to prevent some sneaky unintended power-leveling tactics.

Bug Fixes

Blockbusters

• If a character dies during their cinematic Superflash zoom-in effect, the game will no longer soft lock.
• Blockbusters no longer pause the timer when they are being used, but they will still prevent a time out if they are activated just before the timer reaches 0:00. If the final opponent does not die by the time the Blockbuster ends, the round will go to the opponent.

Squigly

• Fixed an issue where Squigly could unintentionally OTG the opponent (get in an extra attack after a floor bounce, hitting them Off The Ground) after the crumple from BB - Daisy Pusher.
• Can no longer be hit out of the start up of BB3 - Rage of the Dragon.
• Can no longer be stunned out of BB3 - Rage of the Dragon.
• Fixed an issue where turning off Fight Assist during Wyrm's Tail would cause Squigly to get stuck charging.
• Bio-Exorcist's SA no longer damages the opponent during the cinematic Superflash from their BB activation.
• When more than one Squigly is present on the same team, their tombstones should be less likely to overlap perfectly.

Cerebella

• BB2 - Diamonds Are Forever now has a brief 5-frame start up before the BB begins (up from 0 frames). All of these start up frames are invincible.
• The Diamond spawned from BB2 - Diamonds Are Forever will now pass through other projectiles and always hit the opponent.

Valentine

• BB - Counter Venom now has a brief 6-frame start up before the BB begins (up from 0 frames). All of these start up frames are invincible.
• BB - Counter Venom can no longer hit invincible opponents, including corpses!
• MA - Trauma Center doesn't activate if the character receiving it is already dead. This has no effect on the MA, it just makes it less confusing since Final Stand has no impact on dead characters.

Double

• Fixed an issue where Double would sometimes throw the opponent towards her if she counter hit an opponent out of their trip.
• Can no longer be stunned out of BB3 - Nightmare Legion.
• Fixed numerous instances of Double - Sundae School causing issues with other modifiers, such as BLEED and DOOM. Negative 3165 stacks of bleed, begone!

Parasoul

• Fixed an issue where Parasoul would sometimes throw the opponent towards her if she counter hit an opponent out of their trip.
• Fixed an issue where Parasoul could OTG the opponent (hit them Off The Ground) after the crumple from BB - Silent Scope.
• Fixed SM - Egret Call granting meter on use.

Painwheel

• Fixed an issue where Painwheel was invincible during all of her follow up actions from her Flying State Flight Risk. She can now be interrupted out of her Flight actions as expected.

Beowulf

• Fixed an issue where the second hit of Beowulf's Charge Attack could be blocked, even if the unblockable charge attack node was upgraded.

Peacock

• Fixed Peacock's The Hole Idea being counted as a Tag In, thus setting off Tag In specific modifiers like INERTIA.
• Fixed an issue where one frame of her light attack was missing transparency by her hand.
• No longer invincible during Outtake.

Revivals

• Fixed an issue where reviving characters would push the point characters around.
• Fixed an issue where reviving characters could cause a point character to suddenly teleport behind their reviving location which would ruin combos.
• NOTE: These were most evident during things like Squigly's Master Daily Event.

Daily Events

• Fixed numerous issues where a node in Master Daily Events had a Fighter that was severely under powered.

Modifiers

• Fixed several issues where conditions to remove a modifier were not working correctly. This is most noticeable in Elemental Prize Fights which have unique rules for BUFF and DEBUFF removal.
• Fixed an issue where modifier applications based on the fight timer could become un-synchronized in certain situations after repeated Blockbuster use.

Drain

• Fixed an issue where DRAIN could be used while a character was technically dead, letting them errantly revive themselves.
  • Ex: Filia's Marquee Ability healing as DOOM activates to survive it.

Final Stand

• Fixed a few edge cases where Fighters were able to die while in FINAL STAND, especially when suffering from BLEED.

Perfect Block

• No longer reduces the damage of unblockable attacks to 0 if the opponent is blocking as they are hit. (Dead Heat, Charge Attacks, etc...)

Prize Fights - Valentine - Thousand Plagues

• No longer activated by Bio-Exorcist's SA.

Server Errors

• Implemented changes to reduce and eliminate server error "UDE.20"
• Implemented changes to reduce and eliminate server error "UDE.19"
• If you are still experiencing these in 2.5, please let us know in a bug report.

Mail

• Fixed an issue where Silver / Gold Shard rewards were not appearing in the mail rewards list, despite being granted.

UI

• Fixed an issue where a placeholder SM - Brass Knuckles or Character Ability icon was present for a split second in the lower left and right hand corner when the fight ends.

Coming Soon!

Friends List
Soon, you'll be able to add friends, track their progress, and privately message them!

1v1 Asynchronous Competitive Mode
We’re currently working on a new game mode where you will build your own custom defense node map for other players to fight through. Choosing the right Fighters for the right nodes/modifiers will be key. Defense-oriented Fighters (and their appropriate counter variants) will be even more important in the future! Stay tuned for more details!

Guild Based Content
After we're finished with the above, we'll eventually be moving onto full fledged Guild based content for you and your friends. More on that as we get closer to release!

Next Character - Ms. Fortune
More details on Nadia coming soon!

Wrapping Up
... and there you have it! We've been extremely focused on hitting our goals mentioned in the 2018 plans thread shared at the start of the year, and we're super excited about the future of Skullgirls as we continue to implement those features.

As always, let us know what you think below (or in a new thread) so that we can read over your feedback! We're always listening.

Thanks so much for all your support!

~ Hidden Variable ~

 

[REWIND]

OMG SO MUCH HYPE!!!

 

[Ryouhi]

Lots of great changes (even too many to list them all here), but definitely excited for what i'm seeing here

However i especially like the new Defense multipliers for unpopular fighters and the changes to Elemental Prize Fight rewards, though i'd personally like another reward for Top 100 players added, as Top 10 is seemingly extremely hard to get. With 35M points for the last one i didn't get anything, so it feels a bit too much "all or nothing" in that regard - so something like 250-500 bonus essence for top 100 players would be nice, so you don't feel like you wasted your time if you don't manage to get a Top 10 slot.

Also very excited to finally get that Harlequin Bella staring at me day in and day out out of my profile pic next update and i can finally switch it for my beloved Peacock

Two things i'm a little miffy on is that Blockbusters don't stop time anymore and AI changes, especially in terms of BB3 usage, though i'll have to play it first before passing judgement on that.

 

[Nl]

AAAAA IM SO EXCITED I CANT WAIT TO LITERALLY DUEL EVERYONE I SEE. Also, rip everyone who was in denial about divas nerf; can’t wait to see ya cry. I’m mostly curious of how this will change gameplay because you can’t just block and hope they won’t use BB3 anymore. It’ll certainly make late streaks riskier. I’m so excitedddddd

 

[TasiaChaan]

I'm waiting for you, Parasoul!!!

 

[Psyche]

I am so stoked that my stokedness cannot be adequately put into words. So much stuff!

 

[Tom Kulczewski]

You can view another player's Fighters in their collection from their Profile, and you can also DUEL their rep Fighter.

Their entire collection?

Filia - Parasite Weave

• Now inflicts SLOW for 10 seconds alongside STUN whenever it is applied. She cannot apply another STUN if the opponent is inflicted with SLOW.
• We wanted to remove Parasite Weave's (frankly broken) ability to relentlessly stun lock opponents, while still ensuring STUN and methods for "locking down" an opponent was a major part of her toolset.

Here lies the hopes and dreams of PW Filia, may she rest in peace, and may she always bless us during our 50 win streak fights.

 

[Chocostix]

This update really feels good in my soul. Hope 2.5 will be enjoyed by everyone.

 

[Chocostix]

AAAAA IM SO EXCITED I CANT WAIT TO LITERALLY DUEL EVERYONE I SEE. Also, rip everyone who was in denial about divas nerf; can’t wait to see ya cry. I’m mostly curious of how this will change gameplay because you can’t just block and hope they won’t use BB3 anymore. It’ll certainly make late streaks riskier. I’m so excitedddddd

...Wait what? People are crying bout Eliza's nerf? I don't see anyone though.

 

[theLoneskull]

This...is...awesome!! Only real complaints I have are bbs no longer stopping the timer and bb3 usage on the A.I's end (A.I is more likely to use bb3). I suppose what does make up for it (for me) is that elemental relics are now rewarded at the 2.3 mil and 6 mil thresholds. Those elemental pfs were nightmares to get through. So this acts like a way of saying "For your troubles, have this". And I'm already in love with it. I'm also looking forward to the change of music for the Bath of Sehkmet stage. That stage has (in my personal opinion) one of the best soundtracks (idk what else to call it in this case) in the og Skullgirls.

 

[Zuzuska]

It's update time!

• RAGE APPROPRIATE META INCOMING?

That discreet shoutout though!
Holy moly, I'm really happy to see such a huge update on it's way! Thanks to everyone at HVS, and I'm absolutely looking forward to this update's arrival!!

 

[Tao]

AAAAAHHHH

 

[Tao]

Their entire collection?



Here lies the hopes and dreams of PW Filia, may she rest in peace, and may she always bless us during our 50 win streak fights.

WOKE
Edit: whoops meant to reply to the image : ^)

 

[Psyche]

AAAAAHHHH

AAAAAHHHH

 

[Inked]

so excited for this update! been wanting more story for awhile so i’m glad to see a new origin story. also excited for the social features that are slowly being implemented. can’t wait for a time where we’ll be able to battle our friends live!
just kind of sad that some of my best characters aren’t gonna be good anymore. i’ll miss you, parasite weave.

 

[PHPP]

Great stuff! I really liked the PF change, probably my favorite aspect.

And although it's a bit sad to see the ending of infinites (oh boy were they useful in high streaks), it was necessary. That alongside the AI improvement should make the game more challenging, interesting and fun.

Can't wait for it! And judging by the "coming soon", next update is gonna be even better! Thank you HVS for your amazing work, keep it up!

 

[Drexo]

I feel partially responsible for the Cerebella Nerf.

Was not expecting the duel feature and so many buff and nerfs for various characters. I´ll need some time to give an analysis of all this.

 

[Scorialimit]

Also, rip everyone who was in denial about divas nerf

Thing is, she actually would've been more than fine without the infinite. Stealing meter is strong as is, and she was (and still is) a perfect counter to dreadlocks and MA painwheels. But the reason she can no longer work at late to end streak is because of this change:

"Blockbusters no longer pause the timer when they are being used, but they will still prevent a time out if they are activated just before the timer reaches 0:00. If the final opponent does not die by the time the Blockbuster ends, the round will go to the opponent."

Before Diva could've filled her meter, Turn, Fury, BB2, BB3, do some sekmet shenanigans to get her BB1s back, repeat. But now she has no method of dealing DPS, along with anyone who doesn't bleed or have 6k+ attack, or an SA to boost attack. This meta seems to be getting tuned quite a bit, and encouraging defense means counter fighters will be more important (Which actually makes Diva still important, can any other PF gold carry against recoil damage defenders?)

I think Parasite actually got hit harder (mostly cause she was so much better). I agree with removing the stun infinite, but only 15% chance of bleed per hit every 30% of the time attacking might be okay or kill her. Bad Hair Day is a more consistent bleed fighter now. That's slightly concerning. Stun is so good she's still gonna be fine though.

 

[Beldr447]

So no fix for Parasoul BB3 shoting less shots or not being able to use more than one egret skill at the same time?

Also I think Parasite Wave should have a chance to bleed when enemy is slowed, since now you can not constantly stun

 

[Gylfie]

AAHH I DON’T HAVE ENOUGH THEONITE SAVED UP FOR MS.FORTUNE RELICS!!!!